Information Center

The failure of Verizon data center causes JetBlue flight delay

  

Hong Kong server On January 18, it was reported that the power supply of the data center operated by Verizon was cut off recently, which led to the travel delay of customers of JetBlue, an American low-cost airline, for several hours. This event indicates that the airline may not have any failover measures.

On January 14, the power failure of Verizon's operational data center caused by maintenance problems led to the failure of all basic services of JetBlue's data center. JetBlue said that there was a problem with stranded passengers at about 11:30 am that day. At 2:30 pm, stranded passengers began to check in, and all services were restored at 8:00 pm on the 14th.

Verizon reported that the power failure of the data center occurred at 11:37 am that day, and JetBlue could normally operate its online booking service and airport check-in business at 2:30 pm. After about 40 minutes, power was restored. JetBlue's complete online services, including flight tracking, were not restored until 8 p.m.

JetBlue blamed the failure entirely on the orientation problem of its data center partner Verizon, while Verizon did not explain the real reason for the failure. However, JetBlue's report did not indicate that the failure was caused by maintenance problems in Verizon's data center.

Just as any flight service interruption leads to a series of flight delays, the report shows that JetBlue's airport is full of people, some flights are canceled, and there are still many flight delays. According to news reports, JetBlue has done a good job in pacifying passengers and letting passengers understand the current situation of the problem. However, it seems that the company has always kept the eggs of all its data centers in one basket, because the failure of one of Verizon's data centers has seriously affected the operation of its customer supported infrastructure, including airport check-in and boarding operations. Until the business of the data center is restored, the on-site applications can be re online.

In fact, JetBlue's business obviously depends on a single data center, but there is no failover measure. It may be that the airline lowered the reliability standard of its business in order to maintain low prices. If the data center can be switched to another data center for maintenance or failure, its customer support services will not be interrupted and passenger delays and flight cancellations can be prevented. However, the risk of revenue loss must be balanced with the cost of building and operating a second data center. The single point operation of the data center significantly reduces the reliability. At present, there is no data center for failover, which is a bad investment for JetBlue Airlines.